Within each of us there is a light. It is the light of God, & when it shines it reflects not only the wonder of God but also the greatness of the human spirit. We live in difficult times. I pray that we never become fearful, but rather we turn our focus to nurturing the light within us. I hope we allow that light within us to be nourished & to grow. Darkness has one enemy it can never defeat, & that is light. Let your light shine! The best thing you can do for yourself is to become (sic) the-best-version-of-yourself. The best thing you can do for your spouse, your children, your friends, your Church, your nation, & God is to become (sic) the-best-version-of-yourself.

Fountains of Wayne, "The Summer Place" from Sky Full of Holes (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: A couple weeks back, when the R.B.D.S.O.T.D. was a veritable track listing of Sky Full of Holes, I listened to "The Summer Place" over & over & over again, but refrained from selecting it, preferring to reserve it for this end-o'-the-long-summer musical fête. Last week, in "This Week in Motorsport: Triskaidekaphobia," I quoted a few lines of verse from Bill Willingham's often clever comic book Fables. I quote those same lines again, because even aside from all the shuffling off of this mortal coil, this has been a far from ideal summer.

The cruel, hot summer
led into the long, hard fall,
becoming the dark, killing winter
until spring replenished us all.

I'd already planned to feature a week of summer songs in the run-up to Labor Day, America's unofficial close to the summer & beginning of the fall, but added weight was accorded the exercise this morning when I observed a goodly number of fallen leaves lying on the grass. The heat persists & could well linger well into October, but the days are already grown noticeably shorter as we sit two-thirds of the way from the summer solstice to the autumnal equinox. The world, quite apart from our culture, is taking note of the change of the season. But, in the words of Elwood Blues, "while we still can," let us revel in a few songs of summer, of endless possibilities limited only by our ambition.

"Oh! At the summer place
We've got the space if you've got the time,
And the summer place
Is so far away it's another state of mind…"

Commentary: At present, the Little Sisters of the Poor are frequently in the news not for their good works caring for the aged, but for standing athwart the Obama Administration's relentless attempts to undermine Amendment I of the United States Constitution.

The last prophet of the Old Testament, the forerunner of the Messiah, was killed by a corrupted King who gave in to lust, pride, & grandiosity. John never stopped bearing witness to the truth. He had the eyes to see that Truth was fully revealed in Jesus, & was killed in retaliation [for] his beliefs. Because of this, the Christian tradition has hailed him as a martyr.

Friday, August 28, 2015

Operation AXIOM: The World War—The Great Retreat, Part III
10-20 August 1915: The Siege of Novogeorgievsk—the last bastion of a century of Russian rule in Poland is overrun, with ninety thousand of the Tsar's troops abandoned, surrounded, & captured, along with sixteen hundred cannon & a million artillery shells.

Although he excelled in his stiduies, his behavior becme unaceptable to his mother. Not only that he went into loose living with women, alcohol, & addicitons of all kinds, but he also got involved with a cult. (St.) Monica was a mother who never gave up. When Augustine was twenty-nine he not only embraced Christianity during an Easter celebration, but he decided to live a life of celibacy & devote himself to God.

Scripture of the DayPersonal Reading
The Book of Deuteronomy, chapter ten, verses sixteen thru twenty-two;
The Letter to the Romans, chapter four;
The Letter to the Romans, chapter five.

Thursday, August 27, 2015

Skammentary: From where your humble narrator sits, "Favorite Records" might as well have been written about The Mighty Mighty Bosstones themselves.

"You made some of my favorite records,
The sweet, sweet sounds that you cut will last…
Thank you for the records.

"I love the way you make your music,
You've got a lovely way with words,
The music plays,
In turn you turn your phrase,
Turn up the volume on the sweetest sounds I've ever heard,
Thank you for the records,
Thank you for the records…"

Monica's husband, Patricus, not only came home drunk each day but had a violent tamper & Monica was often the victim of his rage. Patricus was neither a faithful husband & therefore, Monica's life was full of trials.

Huh. Odd that the bulletin focuses on Patricus, who repented & converted on his death bed thanks to his wife's years of prayer, & yet does not mention St. Monica's blessed son, the bishop & Doctor of the Church St. Augustine, whose writings are our principal source on her life & virtue.

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Bill Willingham, writing in Fables: Mean Seasons (originally serialized as "The Long Year"):

The cruel, hot summer
led into the long, hard fall,
becoming the dark, killing winter
until spring replenished us all.

This has been a very cruel summer. On 17 July, Formula One pilot Jules Bianchi (1989-2015) succumbed to injuries sustained nine months earlier, 5 October 2014, during the Japanese Grand Prix. Two days ago, on 24 August, IndyCar pilot Justin Wilson (1978-2015) succumbed to injuries sustained the day before, 23 August 2015, during the Pocono 500.

From the moment I became a fan of motorsports, I knew it was only a matter of time 'til I saw a man die, 'til a driver perished in a race I was watching. This almost happened on 16 October 2011, when double Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon (1978-2011) died in the IndyCar season finale at Las Vegas, but by the grace of God I was busy that day & decided not to watch the race. This post is titled "Triskaidekaphobia" because I've been putting off writing it for two years, since the first time I watched a driver die in a race.

triskaidekaphobia, n., \ˌtris-ˌkī-ˌde-kə-ˈfō-bē-ə\ fear of the number thirteen

On 22 June 2013, Allan Simonsen (1978-2013) died during the third lap of the 24 Heures du Mans (Wayback Machine). His G.T.E. Am.-class car was not on camera when he crashed, but the wrecked machine was later shown. I've seen drivers climb out of more badly mangled race cars, but in this sad case the damage was precisely what was required to extinguish a young life full of promise. The great race continued, in accordance with the Simonsen family's wishes, but as one of his fellow drivers remarked, the tragedy has "taken the fun out of it." That was a long, sad day.

On 15 October 2013, G.T. pilot Sean Edwards (1986-2013), whom I'd seen race in the American Le Mans Series & the Grand Am Sports Car Series (since merged as the United SportsCar Championship), died in another man's crash: Edwards was riding along, instructing another driver, who crashed their Porsche. Many drivers supplement the often meager race purses they win by working as ride-along instructors, teaching others the fine art of motorcar racing. This is even more dangerous than racing for a living & requires a driver to place his life in another man's hands. I was not watching when Edwards died, but I had seen him race mere weeks earlier.

A similar death occurred earlier this year, on 12 April 2015, when an instructor, Gary Terry (1978-2015), died in a Lamborghini at Walt Disney World's Exotic Driving Experience, when the driver he was instructing crashed: Associated Press-link.

On 15 November 2013, off-road motorcycle rider Kurt Caselli (1982-2013) died while leading the Baja 1,000. I only learned of the death in January '14, when it was mentioned during the coverage of that year's Dakar Rally. I'd first encountered Caselli during the 2013 Dakar, when as a rookie, riding in place of injured then triple & currently quintuple Dakar champion Marc Coma, Caselli captured two stage wins, a most impressive Dakar debut.

On 6 October 2013, triple Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti (b. 1973) was involved in a particularly violent crash at the Houston street circuit. Franchitti survived, thank goodness, & has recovered from most of his injuries, but due to concussion symptoms he retired from motor racing. He is still involved with IndyCar, as an out-of-the-car driver coach, & whenever he is interviewed the desire still to be behind the wheel is evident, though wisely he has not gone against medical advice. I've seen innumerable collisions & crashes in the six years I've been watching motorsports, most of them spectacular, many of them paying tribute to the great advances in safety that have been made since the bad old days when the specter of death was a regular feature at the world's circuits. I've seen many close escapes like Franchitti's, many wrecks that in years & decades past would have snuffed out lives. I've seen drivers walk away grinning from smoldering wrecks, from twisted hulks of gaily hued carbon fiber, metal, & rubber. But not always. Thunder & damnation, not always!

On 19 July 2009, Formula Two pilot Henry Surtees (1991-2009) died at Brands Hatch. He was the son of F1 World Champion John Surtees, the only man to win world championships in both motorcycle & automobile racing. Young Surtees's death is the first I can recall in the period of my motorsports fandom. He died after being struck in the helmet by a wheel that bounced back into the circuit after another driver crashed.

This summer has been unusually cruel, with two open-wheel deaths in six weeks. Bianchi's death was the first in F1 in twenty-one years, since the terrible weekend at Imola in '94 when both Roland Ratzenberger (1960-1994) & triple World Champion Ayrton Senna (also 1960-1994) died in separate crashes—Ratzenberger on 30 April 1994, during qualifying for the San Marino Grand Prix; Senna on 1 May 1994, during the race itself. (Senna, a Brazilian patriot, often displayed a Brazilian flag during the cool down lap following his victories; I've read that at the time he perished he was carrying an Austrian flag inside his car, which he planned to display during the cool down lap in Ratzenberger's honor.) Bianchi crashed under unusual circumstances. The grand prix was under caution because another driver, Adrian Sutil, had already gone off track & crashed. (Sutil was unhurt.) As the yellow caution flags waved, a recovery vehicle went out to remove Sutil's stricken car from where it posed a danger to any other driver who might also go off track. Bianchi lost control of his car at almost the same spot as Sutil & collided with the recovery vehicle. Bianchi fought for nine months, but he never regained consciousness. His death was mourned for his youth & unfulfilled potential, for many described him as a future world champion.

The shock & sadness of Wilson's death is still raw. His was the first death in IndyCar since Wheldon's. The current IndyCar chassis, the DW12, is named in Wheldon's honor. Wilson's death also marked the first time I saw the fatal collision. He didn't crash his car, but was struck in the helmet by flying debris from another driver's crash. I saw him interviewed the day before, during qualifying; he was his usual charming self.

I've hesitated to write this post for so long after Simonsen's death because I didn't know what to say. I still don't know what to say, but now I know I don't have to say anything. Nothing of grand significance need be said. These men died doing what they loved, each man pursuing his life's passion. We who cannot do what they did love what they were able to do, love the sport they loved, the glory for which they were willing to chance their lives. The words of the Gettysburg Address spring to mind. "The world will little note, nor long remember what" I write here. What these men have done is "far above [my] poor power to add or detract." If we throw up our hands in disgust & forsake motor racing, only then they will have died in vain. If we know longer honor the men who win the races they died contesting, only then they will have died in vain. They considered the prizes for which they contested worth the risk of life & limb. Who are we to disagree? Who are we to dishonor their choice? We need only remember them, need only remember they way in which they lived & died. We need only mourn them, keep their souls, their widows, & their fatherless children in our prayers.

I pray that I will never again mourn another driver who dies in a race I am watching, but I know today, even more than I've ever known before, that the Lord in His infinite mercy will not also answer this prayer as I wish. Yet I bow to His wisdom, which is infinitely greater than mine.

The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, "The Day He Didn't Die" from Pay Attention (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary:

"And how I loved how he lived,
How he was loved and admired,
A knack, a certain flair for life,
And how he had it wired!
He'd never give up, he wouldn't give in,
He had a wonderful way of living.

"There's not been a day, one hasn't gone by,
When I don't think about the day he didn't die.

Commentary: Absolutely no disrespect is meant toward Messers. Wilson or Bianchi, nor any of their fallen brethren, but this is the song that came to mind when I learned of Wilson's death on Monday night. Requiescat in pace.

The saints were remarkable men & women, but surprisingly what made them remarkable was rarely anything too spectacular. What made them extraordinary was the ordinary. They strove to grow in virtue through the ordinary things of everyday life. If they were caring for the sick they were growing in humility. When they were educating children they were growing in patience. As Saint Thérèse of Lisieux said, "Do the little things with great love." There is nothing more attractive than holiness. Throughout history, whenever men & women of holiness have lived, the Church has blossomed. This is the answer to all of our questions & the solution to all of our problems: holiness of life. What are you willing to live for? Just before her death, (Saint) Joan of Arc wrote, "I know this now. Every man gives his life for what he believes. Every woman gives her life for what she believes. Sometimes people believe in little or nothing, & yet they give their lives to that little or nothing. One life is all we have, & we live it as we believe in living it & then it's gone. But to surrender what you are & to live without belief is more terrible than dying—even more terrible than dying young." What are you willing to give your life for?

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Operation AXIOM: The World War—The Great Retreat, Part II
21 August 1915: Tsar Nicholas II assumed direct control of the war effort, supplanting Grand Duke Nicholay Nickolayevich as commander-in-chief of the Imperial Russian Army, a decision with fateful consequences for the Russian Empire & the Romanov dynasty.

St. Louis, King of France, was well known for protecting the French clergy from secular leaders & for strictly enforcing laws against blasphemy. Louis lead two crusades, the Sixth & Seventh Crusades. At the onset of the Seventh Crusade in 1270, Louis died of dysentery.

St. Joseph Calasanz: A priest with university training in canon law & theology, respected for his wisdom & administrative expertise, he put aside his career because he was deeply concerned with the need for education of poor children. He formed teaching priests into a community. The community was recognized as a religious order

ciole Pie (Religious Schools), also known as the Piarists.St. Joseph is Archdiocese of Boston-based CatholicTV's "Obscure Saint of the Month" for August. For whatever reason, I have a greater affinity for CatholicTV than for E.W.T.N., though I like & watch both.

Scripture of the DayPersonal Reading
The Letter to the Romans, chapter two.

Mass Readings
The First Letter to the Thessalonians, chapter two, verses one thru eight;
Psalm One Hundred Thirty-nine, verses one thru six;
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter twenty-three, verses twenty-three thru twenty-six.

Monday, August 24, 2015

Ricky Skaggs, "Kentucky Voice" from The Song Album: Music from the Motion Picture (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: I am not from Kentucky. I owe no allegiance to nor hold any particular affinity for Kentucky. But not so far back, less than a hundred years ago, my maternal grandfather, may he rest in peace, was born in some hollow ("holler") in Breathitt County, Kentucky.

One of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus, where Bartholomew's evangelical labors were expended in the East, he was identified with Nathanael. Along with his fellow apostle Jude Thaddeus, Bartholomew is reputed to have brought Christianity to Armenia in the 1st century. He is said to have been martyred in Albanopolis in Armenia.

Scripture of the DayPersonal Reading
The Letter to the Romans, chapter one (of sixteen).

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Today is Black Ribbon Day, known in Europe, where the commemoration originated, as the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism & Nazism. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the treaty by which Hitler's German Reich & Stalin's Soviet Union agreed to divide up a conquered post-democratic Europe, was signed in Moscow seventy-six year ago to the day, 23 August 1939. Vladimir Putin, the president-cum-strongman of the Russian Federation, has defended the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact as necessary, & like his predecessor Joseph Stalin he has systematically violated the territorial sovereignty of his neighbors. Stalin, the in days before war broke out between Nazi Germany & Communist Russia, invaded Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, & Poland; Putin, to this point, has invaded Georgia & the Ukraine, annexing the Crimea, & will surely continue this pattern of aggression unless the next American president has the courage & fortitude to enforce the world order we're spend the last seventy years building, at the cost of innumerable lives & uncountable treasure, explicitly to avoid the mistakes & provocations that lead Hitler & Stalin to think they could conquer at will without opposition from the Western democracies. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was signed, finally rendering unavoidable the firestorm of World War II, seventy-six years ago today.

Mary's queenship has roots in Scripture. At the Annunciation, (the archangel) Gabriel announced that Mary's Son would receive the throne of David & rule forever. At the Visitation, (St.) Elizabeth calls Mary "mother of my Lord." As in all the mysteries of Mary's life, Mary is closely associated with Jesus: Her queenship is a share of Jesus's kingship. We can also recall that in the Old Testament the mother of the king has great influence in court.

Fountains of Wayne, "Radio Bar" from Sky Full of Holes (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary:

"One night there was a girl there,
For some reason she pulled up her chair,
She said, 'Why don't we go somewhere?'
So I passed her her coat,
That was all that she wrote,
That was it for the Radio Bar,
That was it for the Radio Bar."

Friday, August 21, 2015

Commentary: I had selected "Someone's Gonna Break Your Heart" as the R.B.D.S.O.T.D. long before I saw her this afternoon, & it isn't even a song about unrequited love (I can't really makes heads or tales of the lyrics, myself, yet I remain confident 'tis not a song of unrequited love), but there she was, so beautiful & so warm & welcoming—& suddenly "Someone's Gonna Break Your Heart" seemed all the more apropos.

Two of the most outstanding accomplishments of this saintly pope were the inauguration of the liturgical renewal & the restoration of frequently communion from childhood. He also waged an unwavering war against the heresy & evils of Modernism, gave great impetus to biblical studies, & brought about the codification of Canon Law. His overriding concern was to renew all things in Christ.

I attended Mass this morning at Saint Pius X in Flint Township. As a frequent, almost daily recipient of the Eucharist, I am indebted to Pope St. Pius X.

Thursday, August 20, 2015

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, "You Can't Win" from A Jackknife to a Swan (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary:

"Now please a word here to the wise,
You need to read between the lines,
You've got to dot your T's and cross your I's
Cross your fingers when the print is fine,
You got to do is stay one step ahead,
They're wide awake while you're still in bed,
They count the money while you're counting sheep,
They're wide awake, they can't afford to go to sleep…"

Holiness is the wholehearted openness to the Love of God. It is visibly expressed in many ways, but the variety of expression has one common quality: concern for the needs of others. In John's case, those who were in need were plague-stricken people, ordinary parishioners, those preparing for the priesthood, prostitutes, & all Christians called the imitate the love of Jesus & His mother.

Although he suffered from constant physical pain & illness & had to govern a monastery that soon housed several hundred monks & was sending forth groups regularly to begin new monasteries (he personally saw to the establishment of sixty-five of the three hundred Cistercian monasteries founded during his thirty-eight years as abbot), he yet found time to compose many spiritual works that still speak to us today. He laid out a solid foundation for the spiritual life in his works on grace & free will, humility & love.

As a reminder, there are only thirty-six Doctors of the Church. Respect is due.

Scripture of the Day (Today)Personal Reading
The Letter to the Philippians, chapter four (of four).

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Operation AXIOM: The World War
19 August 1915: The sinking of the ocean liner S.S. Arabic by the German U-boat S.M. U-24, which had previously sunk the British battleship H.M.S. Formidable.

Lest we forget.

Bonus! Song of the Day
"Weird Al" Yankovic, "Word Crimes" from Mandatory Fun (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: I was listening to K-Love as I motored in the Lumi this afternoon when the D.J., in asking for the audience's understanding while she struggled with a recalcitrant computer, said, "My computer's literally exploding right now." It will be a very, very long time before I shall be able to stomach K-Love again.

"And I thought you had gotten it through your skull,
About what's figurative and what's literal,
Oh, but just now you said, you literally couldn't get out of bed.
That really makes me want to literally smack a crowbar upside your stupid head!…"

The philosophy of Christ is based on discipline, & it is discipline that our modern culture abhors & has rejected with all its strength. It is true that Jesus came to comfort the afflicted, but as (Servant of God) Dorthy Day, journalist, social activist, & alcoholic convert pointed out, he also came to afflict the comfortable. The saints make many modern Catholics uncomfortable because they challenge us to throw off the spirit of the world & to embrace the Spirit of God. Like Jesus, by their example the saints invite us to the life of discipline. Contrary to popular opinion, discipline doesn't stifle or restrict the human person. Discipline isn't something invented by the Church to control of manipulate the masses, nor it is a tool that unjust tyrants & dictators use to make people do things that don't want to do. All these are the lies of a culture completely absorbed in a philosophy of instant gratification. Discipline is the faithful friend who will introduce you to your true self. Discipline is the worthy protector who will defend you from your lesser self. And discipline is the extraordinary mentor who will challenge you to become (sic) the-best-version-of-yourself & all God created you to be. What are your habits? Are your habits helping you become (sic) a-better-version-of-yourself or are they self-diminishing?

Pontian was exiled to the mines of the Italian island of Sardinia during a period of Christian persecution. There, he decided to resign from this papal office & died a martyr for the faith. Hippolytus rebelled against the Church when Callixtus

(saint, 14 October) became Pope. He, too, was exiled to the Sardinian mines, where he met Pontian. Pontian helped Hippolytus reconcile with the Church before he died a martyr.Scripture of the Day (Thursday)Mass Readings
The Book of Joshua, chapter three, verses seven thru ten(A), eleven, thirteen thru seventeen;
Psalm One Hundred Fourteen, verses one thru six;
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter eighteen, verse twenty-one thru chapter nineteen, verse one.

In 1941, he was arrested & sent to the concentration camp at Auschwitz. On 31 July, in reprisal for one prisoner's escape, ten men were chosen to die. Father Kolbe offered himself in place of a young husband & father. He was the last to die, enduring two weeks of starvation, thirst, & neglect.

Scripture of the Day (Friday)Mass Readings
The Book of Joshua, chapter twenty-four, verses one thru thirteen;
Psalm One Hundred Thirty-six, verses one thru three, sixteen thru eighteen, twenty-one & twenty-two, twenty-four;
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter nineteen, verses three thru twelve.

Fountains of Wayne, "Hate to See You Like This" from Sky Full of Holes (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: Though "Hate to See You Like This" is addressed a girl, today's R.B.D.S.O.T.D. is dedicated to my father, who has spent most of the summer being even lazier & more disheveled than usual, going weeks on end without shaving all while denying that he's trying to grow a beard. The center of his universe is his widescreen television & the attendant D.V.R. He watches television all day every day, I suspect & fear not so much in search of entertainment as in search of distraction, diversion, escape. He has no relationship with the Lord, he has few friends (& is seldom in contact with those he does have), & goes out of his way to alienate & frustrate his family. This morning, he shaved & showered. This is at the very least a hopeful sign.

"Come on, girl, you're not even trying:
Your place is a mess and all your plants are dying,
You're lying around in those sweatpants,
You're staring off into the distance…

"Come on, girl, let's pull it together,
You can't just watch infomercials forever.
If you need a hand, why don't you take mine?
Let's get you out into the sunshine…
I hate to see you like this,
I hate to see you like this,
I hate to see you like this."

Montag, 17. August
Fountains of Wayne, "Acela" from Sky Full of Holes (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary:

"There's a girl on the train
Beating on a window pane,
Reading

People magazine
Just to help turn off her brain,
And I swear I caught her staring at me—
Maybe I've been staring at her, too…"

Sunday, August 16, 2015

Operation AXIOM: The World War—The Great Retreat, Part I
2 May-June 1915: The Gorlice-Tarnów Offensive—a coordinated German/Austro-Hungarian attack on Russian-occupied Galicia, which not only achieved its local objectives & relieved the threat of invasion from the heart of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but snowballed into a general Russian retreat along the entire front.

Saturday, August 15, 2015

I tarried in conversation with a brother after this morning's Saint Joseph Covenant Keepers' meeting—hooray for Saturday morning Bible study & fellowship!—finally arriving downtown at 10:15 A.M. I joined my father, who had taken his '79 Corvette down to the "Corvette Corral" in the wee small hours of the morning, & we walked the length & breadth of the Back to the Bricks car show. We saw thousands of motor cars & walked amidst ten of thousands of persons. I ran into & shook hands with two of my brother Knights, Golf Delta, who is the grand poobah of the Corvette Reunion, & November Charlie, whose '50s Chevrolet truck is parked in the same spot on South Saginaw Street every year, & also with Father James Mangan, one of the new priests assigned to the new Catholic Community of Flint, comprised of four parishes—St. John Vianney, St. Mary, St. Matthew, & St. Michael—under one pastor, Father Tom Firestone, C.Ss.R. 'Twas hot, & though there were a few clouds in the sky there was precious little refuge to be found from the death rays of the Accursed Sun, overall 'twas fabulous weather for the car show. Downtown Flint was fairly bursting with the crowd. What a fantastic event!

Friday, August 14, 2015

"She makes the Indy 500 look like a Roman chariot race now,
(You look like an ace, now, you look like an ace,)
A lot of guys try to catch her but she leads 'em on a wild goose chase now,
(You drive like an ace, now, you drive like an ace,)
And she'll have fun, fun, fun, 'til her daddy takes the T-bird away,
(Fun, fun, fun, 'til her daddy takes the T-bird away)…"

For this R.B.D.S.O.T.D. celebration of Back to the Bricks, I initially considered such automotive ditties as '92 Subaru" by Fountains of Wayne & "She Drives Like Crazy" by "Weird Al," but ultimately I decided to play things straight, unironically saluting the machines of that bygone era with the music of the era, music that both celebrated & shaped the car culture to which Back to the Bricks pays tribute.

Twenty-four hours late & after necessitating an extra journey to & from Ann Arbor, my new Mac Mini is now functional, replacing my old Mac Mini which had soldiered on since '06 (though the hard drive did fail & was replaced in 2012 or '13). Here's hoping for another nine years of more or less reliable, workaday service.

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Commentary: For the rest of this week, the Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day will be celebrating the annual Back to the Bricks cruise & car show, a Genesee County summertime tradition now entering its second decade. I'm not a cruiser, having cruised enough in my father's Corvette to know it isn't my cup of tea, & my interest in classic muscle cars is more aesthetic than mechanical—I appreciate their beauty & the roar of a big V8, but my eyes glaze over when the real car guys' talk turns to engine displacement & gear ratios. I'll be seeking alternate routes so as to avoid Saginaw Street as much as possible for the next few days, but on Saturday morning I fully intend to do what I've done the last two years & walk the entire length of the car show, beholding thousands of cars. Project MERCATOR demands no less than taking advantage of this opportunity to join in this celebration of community & heritage. Back to the Bricks, baby!

Left a widow at twenty-eight, with four children, the broken-hearted baroness took a vow of chastity. Her mother, stepmother, sister, first two children, & now her husband had died. St. Francis de Sales became her spiritual director & she started the Congregation of the Visitation. St. Vincent de Paul served as her spiritual director after de Sales's death.

Scripture of the DayPersonal Reading
The Second Letter to the Corinthians, chapter thirteen (of thirteen).

The foundress of the order of nuns "Poor Clares," in a little chapel outside Assisi, gave herself to God. St. Francis cut off her hair & gave her a rough hewn brown habit to wear, tied off with a plain cord around her waist. Her parents tried in every way to make her return home, but Clare would not.

There is a matriarch in the parish, Margie, two of whose daughters are named Carla & Clare. I once teased Margie for naming Clare "Clare," instead of Clara, Clara being an anagram of Carla. Margie replied that Clare was named after today's great St. Clare of Assisi. I rejoined that Clara is just a different form of Clare, Santa Clara meaning the exact same in Spanish as Saint Clare does in English. Carla & Clara, Clara & Carla. Opportunities like that are rare & should not be missed.

Scripture of the DayPersonal Reading
The Second Letter to the Corinthians, chapter twelve.

Code Name: CHAOS
There is an increasing frequency here at The Secret Base of referring to individuals by N.A.T.O. phonetic alphabet renderings of their initials. Brother Envy has a god, old-fashioned code name, but even in the N.A.T.O. phonetic alphabet he has a pretty cool code name: November Victor. Mrs. Brother Envy would be Juliett Victor, Daughter Envy the Elder Bravo Victor & Daughter Envy the Younger Charlie Victor.

Less Than Jake, "Harvey Wallbanger" from Greetings & Salutations from Less Than Jake (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: "Harvey Wallbanger" was first included on the E.P. Greetings from Less Than Jake, which was then combined with the E.P. (sic) Seasons Greetings from Less Than Jake to form the album Greetings & Salutations.

Monday, August 10, 2015

Skammentary: The bass lines & blaring horns of "Thick Ass Stout" were prancing through my head this morning before Mass, but there seemed something unseemly about posting a R.B.D.S.O.T.D. about libations at 8:12 A.M. From my iTunes playlist "Prohibition."

When order by Emperor Valerian in 258 to give up the Church's treasures, he presented the poor, the crippled, the blind, & the suffering, saying these were the true treasures of the Church. He declared to the prefect, "The Church is truly rich, far richer than your emperor." This act of defiance led directly to his martyrdom.

Scripture of the Day (Today)Personal Reading
The Second Letter to the Corinthians, chapter eleven.

Mass Readings
The Second Letter to the Corinthians, chapter nine, verses six thru ten;
Psalm One Hundred Twelve, verses one & two, five thru nine;
The Gospel according to John, chapter twelve, verses twenty-four thru twenty-six.

I believe there is a direct relationship between happiness & holiness. This was my first serious observation of the Christian life as a teenager. I must also confess it was the reason I first began to explore Catholicism seriously. As simple as it may sound, I was aware of my yearning for happiness. I had tried to satisfy this yearning in other ways & had been left wanting. I had witnessed a peace & purpose in the lives of a handful of people I knew who were striving to live their faith, & I knew they had something I was yearning for. God calls each of us to holiness. He invites us to be truly ourselves. This call to holiness is in response to our deepest desire for happiness. We cry out to God, saying, "Show us how to find the happiness our hearts are hungry for," & God replies, "Walk with Me, be all I created you to be, become (sic) the-best-version-of-yourself." It is a natural & logical conclusion that we will never find happiness if we are not ourselves.

Commentary: I doubt the Maker of Heaven & Earth would commit such a grammatical atrocity as Mr. Kelly's nonsensical "the-best-version-of-yourself." I can already sense your objection & no, I won't just let it go.

The Loot | Drink!
In the second wave of my birthday presents, I received a genuine Pan Am carry-on bag, a Pan Am lapel pin, & a diecast model of a Pan Am-liveried 747. I also received D.V.D.s of the movies Captain America: The Winter Soldier, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, & Die Hard 2: Die Harder. That last film was not on my list, & I did not receive three movies that were on the list, but I know the giver to be a persnickety fellow who was slightly irked by the fact that Die Hard sat unaccompanied in my movie library; plus, it truly is the thought that counts. I also received four bottles of beer brewed by Trappist monks in Belgium. Score!

As Jesus prayed, the first of three extraordinary things happened. His face became as radiant as the sun, as if He were a source of light. Suddenly, two men appeared beside Jesus. The disciples recognized them as two of ancient Israel's greatest figures, Moses & Elijah. A cloud descended on [the] mountain top, covering & enclosing them in a thick mist. In the Old Testament the presence of God is described as a cloud, with fire & light.

Scripture of the Day (Thursday)Personal Reading
The Second Letter to the Corinthians, chapter seven.

He repaired the rift between the sees of Rome & Carthage that had developed over the issue of baptism & re-baptism. The martyrdom of St. Sixtus was dramatic. Forbidden to hold services, he & his deacons continued to worship at the tomb of Saint Callistus. As the pope preached, soldiers broke into the chapel & beheaded Sixtus. Four of his eight attendants were also beheaded. Authorities executed another three later that day.

St. Cajetan was an Italian Catholic priest & religious reformer, who helped found the Theatines, a group that would combine the spirit of monasticism with the exercise of the active ministry. He founded a bank to help the poor & offer an alternative to usurers (loan sharks). It later became the Bank of Naples.

Scripture of the Day (Friday)Personal Reading
The Second Letter to the Corinthians, chapter eight.

Dominic saw that the only way to preach orthodox doctrine effectively to these people was to be as poor as they were & to be thoroughly knowledgeable of Chrsitian theology. Founded the Dominican order, a religious community officially called the Order of Preachers.

Saturday, August 8, 2015

Operation AXIOM: The World War—The Gallipoli Campaign, Part V
Henry Moseley (1887-1915), the British chemist & physicist, who in a brief, brilliant career devised Moseley's Law that justified the sorting of elements by atomic number in the Periodic Table, an achievement that likely would have won him the Nobel Prize in Physics had he not been killed at Gallipoli by a Turkish sniper on 10 August 1915.

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Operation AXIOM: The World War—The Gallipoli Campaign, Part IV
6-21 August 1915: The August Offensive—The British & A.N.Z.A.C. incompetence & lethargy would rise to the level of farce had not such a dear price been paid in blood; the Battle of Sari Bair (6-21 August), the landing at Suvla Bay (6-15 August), the Battle of Krithia Vineyard (6-13 August), the Battle of Lone Pine (6-10 August), & the Battle of the Nek (7 August), et al.

Lest we forget.

Bonus! Song of the Day
Eric Bogle, "And the Band Played 'Waltzing Matilda'" courtesy The Watergirl (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary:

"So they gathered the crippled, the wounded, the maimed,
And they shipped us back home to Australia,
The legless, the armless, the blind, the insane,
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla.

"And as our ship pulled into Circular Key,
And looked at the planks where me legs used to be,
And thanked Christ there was nobody waitin' for me,
To grieve, to mourn, and to pity.

"But the band played 'Waltzing Matilda'
As they carried us down the gangway,
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared,
And they turned all their faces away…"

According to tradition, the Virgin Mary appeared in a dream to two faith Roman Christians, the patrician John & his wife, as well as to Pope Liberius (r. 352-366), asking that a church be built in her honor on the site where snow would fall on the night of August 4-5. Liberius traced the outlines of the church in the snow & the first basilica was built on that site.

Scripture of the DayPersonal Reading
The Second Letter to the Corinthians, chapter six.

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Patron of priests. He heard confessions of people from all over the world for sixteen hours each day. His life was filled with works of charity & love. It is recorded that even the staunchest of sinners were converted at his mere word.

Urbi et Orbi | Project MERCATOR
The week before last, a distaff parishioner with whom I am acquainted through the choir approached me after morning Mass & asked if we could talk. She told me her troubles & I mostly listened. At times, though, the masculine instinct not merely to be a comforting shoulder but instead to be a problem-solver asserted itself & I voiced what advice I thought helpful & appropriate. The exercise seemed to provide her some solace & we met again on the same day of last week, an appointment now marked in my calendar as Kaffeeklatsch (the German literally means "coffee gossip"). I write "the exercise" provided her some solace for two reasons. One, simply getting it off her chest, giving voice to her woes outside of her kin, was a great relief. Two, though what I said seemed to be helpful, it was not I who did so, but Christ who lives in me. Most of my fellow parishioners have never met me, & I pray fervently that they never shall. This is not in any way to deceive them, but to live out the Lord's command to lose one's life in order to save it & Saint Paul's sage writings that when we live in the Spirit it is no longer we who live, but Christ Who lives in us. Most of my fellow parishioners have never met me, they've only met Christ living in me. I am a nasty piece of work, mean-spirited & petty with an acid tongue. All the good I do is His, not mine.

Yesterday, a distaff parishioner with whom I catechize rang my mobile in some distress. Actually, bless her heart, she texted me & asked me to ring her when I had a moment. I did & left a message for her to ring me back at her convenience. She rang back & we spoke for an hour. She voiced her troubles & because she asked for specific advice & solutions, I provided what I could. Again & again I had to stress the point that the difficulties in her life are not the Lord's punishment for any fault or deficiency in her faith, that the Lord was not permitting her kith to fall into sin to punish her, but to test them. We are each precious in the sight of God, but none of us the center of the world, the axis around which everything spins. We must live in community, but within that community we will each face our individual trials & troubles. We must all act uprightly, because how we react affects the community of which we are a part, but that doesn't mean that our failings are divine punishment inflicted on the community; thinking so is a very Old Testament/Protestant attitude, one that ignores the Grace in which we are called to live, the Divine Mercy that it offered each of us. But I digress. The Lord is up to something; He's making what I affectionately mislabel as mischief, for a greater purpose only He knows. I have a suspicion I know what He's about, but I do not wish to presume.

When it comes to the People of God, I try to embody Dr. Zoidberg's attitude: "I'm up for whatever."

Scripture of the DayPersonal Reading
The Second Letter to the Corinthians, chapter five.

Commentary: 2 Corinthians, 5:15:

He indeed died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him Who for their sake died & was raised.

Monday, August 3, 2015

Commentary: This has been a trying summer, in no small part because of my foolish, self-destructive neglect of my study of sacred Scripture & the saints, but methinks that by the grace of God the ship is being righted.

"Remember when you couldn't wait
To show up early and find your place,
'Cause you didn't want to miss a thing
And your heart was open, ready for change.
Oh, those days!
You were never afraid to sing,
Never afraid to lift your hands,
Didn't care what people would think.

"You were on fire,
And church was more than a place,
And people were more than faces,
And Jesus was more than a name…"

Bonus! Song of the Day
"Weird Al" Yankovic, "Word Crimes" from Mandatory Fun (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: In mockery of Matthew Kelly's "the-best-version-of-yourself" & some saddening plural/possessive confusions, with accompanying abuse of the apostrophe, in this week's Saint Matthew parish bulletin—in a letter by one of Fr. Tom Firestone's new parochial vicars, no less!

sic) Catholic bishop, spiritual writer, composer, scholastic philosopher, & theologian. He founded the Congregation of the Most Holy redeemer (Redemptorists). A prolific writer, he published nine editions of his moral theology in his lifetime, in addition to other devotional & ascetic works & letters. Among his best known works are The Glories of Mary & The Way of the Cross, the latter still used in parishes during Lenten devotions.I know a Redemptorist priest, the Rev. Thomas Firestone, who is quite possibly the most consistently excellent homilist I've heard.

Scripture of the Day (Saturday)Personal Reading
The Second Letter to the Corinthians, chapter two.

In any moment when you surrender to the will of God & choose to be (sic) the-best-version-of-yourself, you are holy. Any moment that you grasp as an opportunity to exercise virtue is a holy moment. But as quickly as this holiness can be found, it can be lost, because in any moment that you choose to be less than (sic) the-best-version-of-yourself, you have become distracted from living a holy life. There is nothing more attractive than holiness. This attractiveness has not only been demonstrated in Jesus, but is constantly demonstrated here & now in our own place & time: whenever someone goes out of his or her way to ease the burden of a stranger; whenever someone is honest; whenever someone lays down his or her life by working hard to support his or her family; whenever someone rejects the premise of modern culture. In his letter to the Thessalonians, Saint Paul writes, "This is the will of God: that you be saints" (1 Thessalonians, 4:3). God wants you to be holy. Your holiness is the desire of God, the delight of God, & the source of your happiness. To embrace who you were created to be & to become (sic) the-best-version-of-yourself is God's dream for you. Threfore, holiness is for everyone, not just for a select few, for monks in monasteries & nuns in convents; it is for you & me.

Commentary: The nonsensically punctuated phrase the "best-version-of-yourself," here presented as the even more ludicrous "the-best-version-of-yourself," is the least attractive feature of Matthew Kelly's writing. You should, one & all, strive to be the best version of yourself, but Mr. Kelly's punctuation only makes sense when taking about something like adopting a best-version-of-yourself mentality.

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Operation AXIOM: The World War—The Fokker Scourge, Part I
The synchronization, or interrupter, gear that allowed machine guns to be fired through the arc of an aircraft's propeller without damaging the blades, thus substantially increasing the lethality of early fighter aeroplanes.

Commentary: I woke up this morning with "Because He Lives (Amen)" on my mind, my favorite method of selecting the R.B.D.S.O.T.D. Having done so, I'm considering inaugurating a policy of reserving all Sundays' R.B.D.S.O.T.D.—possibly exempting April, due to SKApril—for religious music. Sunday, after all, has been called "the day we cannot live without," due to the life-giving nature of the Eucharist. No decision has yet been made, but the idea is quite attractive.

Commentary: "Short Change Hero" short changes the listener. The song is 5:20 long, the first 1:24 of which is a pretentious, non-musical introduction; without that malarkey, at 3:56 in length, "Short Change Hero" would be ballpark ninety per cent (90%) better than it currently is.

Strike Back's cast boasts the following amusement: an Australian, Sullivan Stapleton, plays an American, First Sergeant Damian Scott, while an American, Philip Winchester, plays a Briton, Colour Sergeant Michael Stonebridge. (This oddity would be an even more amusing were Stapleton British, curse his bones!) Similarly, in the upcoming motion picture The Man from U.N.C.L.E., a Briton, Henry Cavill, plays an American, Napoleon Solo, while an American, Armie Hammer, plays a Russian, Illya Kuryakin. (This amusement is absent from the original television series, in which an American, Robert Vaughn, originated the role of the American secret agent, Napoleon Solo.)